Heroic Betty used quad bike to help neighbours in need during bad weather in Cork
The recent snowy weather brought out the best in many local communities around Ireland, and Cork woman Betty Hennessy was one of those braving the weather to help her neighbours.
Betty, who lives in Ballinascarthy, used her quad bike to get to neighbours in difficulty in recent days.
She told Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today show how she jumped on her quad bike during the bad weather to help her neighbour, who was cut off due to the high level of snow that fell along the Cork coast.
"It's great to be able to help people," she said.
"I was heading off to a neighbour who had a problem with the farming side of business and we went out to help him. My son went with me as well.
"This occasion was a great event to see the way neighbours really got together. It's a great way of getting to know neighbours and to see how they helped each other.
"People are amazing. Events such as this you realise it's so important, how lucky we are to live in such a great countryside and have such a great community spirit.
"People were there willing to help."
Betty, who also volunteers with West Cork Rapid Response, said it was the worst snowfall she had experienced, adding it was worse than the extreme weather conditions she remembers in 1982.
"It was very bad. Even though the quad was a great little machine to get everywhere, at the same time you'd need a shovel because there were six and seven foot drifts across the road coming out gaps where you really couldn't come past.
"It was worse than '82. I remember 82 well. This was amazing and way worse. It was the snow drifts were the real problem, and of course the snow was very deep as well."
